Crenshaw Boulevard

A man suspected of raping two women and a 14-year-old girl and then shooting them execution-style, one fatally, in Inglewood was arrested Saturday night after the family of the dead victim saw him while driving to her funeral, authorities said. J. C. Metoyer, 19, was arrested without incident at 6 p.m. at Crenshaw Boulevard and 47th Street in Los Angeles after the family of Sarah Laureana, 19, called police. Metoyer, who is being held without bail, was booked on one count of murder, three counts of rape and three counts of robbery, said Inglewood Sgt. Harold Moret.

A 14-year-old youth from the Crenshaw area was fatally wounded early Monday when shots were fired at the car he was driving from another car as both cars drove south on Crenshaw Boulevard near 39th Street, Los Angeles police said. Shortly after the shooting, police suggested that a driving dispute may have led to the shooting. But later Monday, South Bureau Homicide Detective James K. Vena said detectives "really have no idea" why the shots were fired.

Authorities Tuesday identified a 17-year-old boy who was fatally shot during an argument inside an MTA bus in Hyde Park. Edward Walker III was pronounced dead at the scene after the gang-related shooting about 9 p.m. Monday near 60th Street and Crenshaw Boulevard. Walker and another youth got into an argument when the bus they were riding stopped at the intersection, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement. As the argument escalated, the assailant pulled out a handgun and fired once at Walker, who collapsed on the bus floor, officials said.

Los Angeles motorists may want to avoid Venice Boulevard on Sunday as tens of thousands of bicyclists, skateboarders and walkers take over a large swath of the boulevard for the sixth CicLAvia, an event that encourages Angelenos to abandon their cars for the day. About 100,000 people are expected for the event that will temporarily close 15 miles of streets to motorized vehicles from downtown to Venice. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. A map of the route showing crossings open to vehicles is at www.CicLAvia.org . Parts of Alvarado, 7th and Main streets will be closed downtown.

A new light-rail system through South Los Angeles and the South Bay was approved by transit officials Thursday, but some local politicians and residents worry that the rail line could pose similar problems that have hampered other projects. The 8 1/2 -mile line is the biggest beneficiary to date of Measure R, the half-cent sales tax for transportation projects that L.A. County voters approved last year. Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said Measure R revenues would provide most of the estimated $1.7 billion needed for the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor Project, which would pay for a relatively bare-bones version of the line.

The crunch of a bulldozer biting into a Crenshaw Boulevard school signaled the start of heavy construction Tuesday on the latest addition to Los Angeles' steadily expanding rail network, a light-rail line that will connect the Mid-City area to the South Bay by the end of the decade. The 8.5-mile Crenshaw/LAX Line will be the first new rail service in a generation to traverse transit-dependent South Los Angeles, increasing connections to a train system that now reaches to Long Beach, the Westside, the San Fernando Valley and the San Gabriel Valley.

South Los Angeles has a won a significant victory as transportation officials recommended this week that a proposed transit corridor along Crenshaw Boulevard be a light-rail line rather than a less expensive dedicated busway. The recommendation, made by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority staff, gives a boost to the proposed project estimated at $1.7 billion, which would run from the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw area to just outside Los Angeles International Airport. Officials want to build the project with revenues from Measure R, the transportation sales tax that county voters approved last year.

Multiple protesters denouncing the George Zimmerman verdict were taken into custody Monday night after Los Angeles police declared an unlawful assembly in the Crenshaw district. The police actions came after several hours of lawlessness along Crenshaw Boulevard and adjacent streets as groups of youths stomped on cars, assaulted bystanders, set fires and vandalized property, authorities said. Protesters hurled several chunks of concrete at...

For years, Crenshaw residents have bemoaned the dearth of major supermarkets in their community, saying they have little choice but to pay high food prices at independent stores or travel long distances to patronize lower-priced chains. Now a dispute between Councilwoman Ruth Galanter and the developer of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza over the location of a proposed supermarket near Crenshaw and Martin Luther King boulevards threatens to drive away the only two chains that have indicated an interest in constructing a store in the mostly black, middle-class area.